Over the past few months, my granddaughter Daisy has been encouraged to read each day on her own. She selects her book, settles on the sofa and for 10-15 minutes, she enjoys her reading time. It didn’t take long for the adults in her life to stop what they were doing, select a book and… Continue reading Read your way on World Book Day
Author: grannysmithsdiary
Child-led fun in the Great Outdoors
I was very interested to stumble upon a story listing Children’s Top 10 Outdoor Activities. The results were arrived at by surveying 2,000 UK parents with children aged 6-10, along with their children. For me, one of the most interesting findings of the survey (commissioned by the cheese brand, Dairylea) was that for 57% of… Continue reading Child-led fun in the Great Outdoors
Dressing up for World Book Day 2024
The arrival of World Book Day 2024 offers children a chance to celebrate their favourite characters, and adults a chance to celebrate the joy of reading I’ve just been chatting with my granddaughter, Daisy. She’s excited and wanted to share her ideas with me for her costume for World Book Day 2024. I’ve seen the… Continue reading Dressing up for World Book Day 2024
Transient art: nature fuels a child’s creativity
Transient art doesn’t require expensive supplies or a prolonged clean up – it’s art made from nature, and it isn’t made to last. It’s always a treat for me to meet Daisy from school. I was lucky enough to enjoy one of those moments last week: Daisy rushed out to hug me and then pressed a… Continue reading Transient art: nature fuels a child’s creativity
Summer Holiday Special: New Life for Old Lego
A Guest Post by Daisy’s Dad It’s August and UK schools are closed for the summer holidays. Many parents will have one thing on their mind now: trying to find ways to occupy their children. This often means balancing work schedules with the availability of helpful relatives and childminders, and organising daily routines around the… Continue reading Summer Holiday Special: New Life for Old Lego
A little box of delights for a curious child
As a toddler, my granddaughter Daisy always had her hands full! Whether clambering over a play structure or sitting in her buggy, she never went anywhere without grasping something in her hands. On one occasion, I found Daisy dressed to go out to the park and was reassured to see that she had her wellies… Continue reading A little box of delights for a curious child
Learning the UPPER and lowercase alphabet
While my granddaughter Daisy has inspired many of my educational blogs, she isn’t the only young family member that I’m lucky enough to spend time with. Daisy recently spent a long weekend with her cousins, and watching the many games and activities they shared has given me some new ideas for topics to cover. One… Continue reading Learning the UPPER and lowercase alphabet
World Book Day 2023 – reading for reading fun
World Book Day is a treasured event for our family, as is probably evident from all my previous posts on the topic! This year’s event, which takes place on March 2nd 2023, will be no different. There is a trove of resources for you to take advantage of this year, as I'll outline below. The theme… Continue reading World Book Day 2023 – reading for reading fun
More rekenrek ideas: developing fluency with multiples
The rekenrek, a simple Dutch counting frame, is seeing rapidly increasing popularity in the world of education. In this blog, I’ll show how you can use it to build a child’s number sense and their fluency in working with multiples. In my previous blog I explained the value of this simple tool for early mathematics.… Continue reading More rekenrek ideas: developing fluency with multiples
Rekenrek Revolution: a fresh approach to simple maths
How can a Dutch counting frame make it easier for a child to learn times tables and number bonds? In this blog I’m going to look at the rekenrek, a simple arithmetical tool that is growing in popularity. Now, in the decades I’ve spent as a qualified teacher, I’ve seen plenty of changes in the… Continue reading Rekenrek Revolution: a fresh approach to simple maths
Granny Smith's Diary 